Mohawk Lacrosse Still Going Strong on Akwesasne

While it's commonly held that getting your hands on an a true hand-made Iroquois lacrosse stick — box or field — is an incredibly difficult task, Mohawk Lacrosse on Akwesasne (located between the US and Canada, straddling the St. Lawrence River) is still going strong these days and continues to produce high-quality wooden sticks. In fact, Mohawk Lacrose — founded by Mark and Kariwate Mitchell in 1996 — is considered to be the largest supplier of wooden sticks left in this business, which is more like a tradition than a trade.

"This is a family business," says Mark, who was an oustanding lacrosse player until he suffered an injury as an iron worker years ago in New York City, which ended his career. "All of my family — my wife and my sons — are involved in this."

Located on Cornwall Island just down the road from A`nowara`ko:wa Arena, also known as the Turtle Dome, Akwesasne's famous box lacrosse arena, Mohawk Lacrosse is the continuation of a long line of sticks makers who passed the craft down to younger generations. Mark's great, great grandfather was Matthew White, one of five brothers in a family that became famous for their skills in making hand-crafted wood sticks that became some of the most sought after from the late 1800s to the 1930s as the sport began to spread.

The company started out simply selling lacrosse products made by other companies, but soon began to make products of its own, starting with plastic lacrosse heads. "We created lacrosse, so I think we should make the sticks, too," Mark said.

Though the Patterson family experimented with making plastic sticks in the 1970s, the Mitchells are believed to be the first Iroquois stick makers to successfully produce plastic heads used in the modern era. In fact, in the early days of the Major Indoor Lacrosse League, Mohawk Lacrosse — then named Mohawk International Lacrosse — was one of the league's sponsors.

MIL, as it was known back then, even had a sponsored athlete in one of the league's all-time greatest players, John Tavares, who is still close with the Mitchell family to this day and spent several summers playing box lacrosse at Akwesasne.

Oddly enough, the Mitchells endeavor into plastic sticks came just before they began producing wood sticks of their own. To honor his heritage and his family's legacy, Mark decided his business needed to include making traditional wooden sticks, both for field and box. He ended up buying equipment and other resources from the shop formerly operated by Matthew Etienne, who lived in the Mohawk community of Kanesatake near Oka, Quebec. Some of the relics acquired in that purchase are on display in the shop. But more importantly, it helped Mark move in the direction that would help define the future of his company.

Eventually, Mark connected with Wally Roundpoint, whose family had operated the Mohawk Lacrosse Manufacturing Company from the 1930s to the 1960s, and the longtime stick maker helped teach and train Mark and others the skills required to make wood sticks of the highest quality. From there, the company became synoymous with the sport, and you can see many box players on Iroquois reserves, in Ontario and out west in British Columbia using Mohawk Lacrosse sticks.

Today, the Mohawk Lacrosse shop is still frequented by serious lacrosse fans looking to get their hands on a real wooden stick. Most of those visitors are current indoor players. But, Mark says, the shop will occassionally get a visit from those who are simply interested in his business because it's such a special craft.

"We've had busloads of people from China come through here," Mark says. "And I've shipped sticks to people all over the world. I've had people call me to order a dozen at a time."

Though Mohawk Lacrosse (the name was just changed a couple years ago) is probably the best source for a hand-made stick for those who'be been hunting them, even Mark says the demand has ramped up in recent years, with only so many stick makers still involved in the craft. But the family does its best to keep sticks in stock and ready to be used.

Visit the Mohawk Lacrosse website for more information, including contact info. Below, check out some photos and more details of our tour of the Mitchell's shop. Below that, watch the video segment from How It's Made, which goes into greater detail on how the sticks at the Mohawk factory are made. We hope to get back there soon to catch up with Mark and his family and some of our other friends up that way.

This metal piece of artwork rests on the north side of a shed next to the Mohawk Lacrosse shop. ILGear's friend Paul Nicol sizes up these massive sticks so you can get a sense for how tall they are.

These pieces of hickory are cut in the fall, when the sap has drained out of them. Typically, a hickory log will be split, and then those pieces cut into four, producing eight lengths.

The Mohawk Lacrosse shop has produced tens of thousands of sticks through the years.

The band saw used to cut each piece of hickory into the sections that will ulimately become lacrosse sticks.

Lots of shavings here after a batch of wood was cut.

This is where each length of hickory is steamed for about 45 minutes, which softens up the wood and allows it to be formed.

From the steamer, each piece of wood is placed in this jig. While the wood is soft, warm and — most importantly — pliable, it is curled around one of the various forms on this device (creating the curve, for either a right-handed or left-handed player). While each piece of wood is being curled around the form in the jig, a metal wire is placed around it to keep the shape. It's then set to dry for about a month.

After the stick has set, the bottom end (the handle end) is steamed, and then it is bent back, known as the back-bend, to help create the shape of the stick.

Some sticks hanging to dry.

And some over in this corner, which includes both field sticks and goalie sticks.

Box sticks, field sticks and goalie sticks on display in this shop. Enough to make any stick collector weak in the knees.

The Mohawk Lacrosse company produces several plastic heads: the Mission, the Mach 1, the Lightning and the Thunder.

Blue prints for the Mohawk Mach 1 lacrosse head, one of the only plastic heads ever created by the Iroquois.

Quite the lacrosse relic here: An original Mohawk International Lacrosse shaft from the era when the company was the official NLL sponsor. (Mark's still got a ton of great "swag" and memorabilia from those days, including items that John Tavares signed. Tavares was one of the company's sponsored athletes back in the day and is still close with the Mitchells.)

Old-school Akwesasne Thunder jersey. Never heard of them? Do some research.

A look at one of the walls in the Mohawk Lacrosse shop.

Another great jersey hanging in the shop.

The view from the Mitchell family's porch, overlooking the magnificent St. Lawrence ("The River," as it's known up that way). Nowadays, Mohawk Lacrosse is a sponsor of the Snake Island Muskies of the TNSLL (one of the greatest team names in all of sports). The Mitchell's home and factory offers a great view of Snake Island, which you can see out in the River here.

This wood clock bears the name of the Etienne family, another artifact making its way to the Mohawk Lacrosse shop years ago.

Mark's son Tahorakie proudly shows the very last stick ever produced by the legendary Matthew Etienne, who was a wildly popular and successful stick maker from Kehnatasake, a Mohawk community near Oka, Quebec, one of the original Seven Nations of Canada. When the Mitchells bought out Etienne's business, Matthew's widow gave this to Mark, explaining that it was the final stick to be hand-crafted by her husband's longstanding business.

I watched Mark's son Tahorakie string up a stick that I ended up acquiring, and that you see below in the detailed pictures.

The corner post of a bed frame, such as this one, really makes the perfect instrument for shaping a pocket.

Behold: the standard box stick from the Mohawk Lacrosse company. Depending on demand and the time of year, you can get your hands on one of these by traveling to the shop or coordinating with the Mitchells.

With all of the smaller pieces of hickory that appear to be scrap, there's a brighter future ahead. Mark and his family also produce smaller wood sticks, such as this 12-inch example. Iroquois families often will put a stick similar to this one in the carriage or crib of male babies.